Fox Coat

It's been a while, but a holiday, a loss of sew-jo, and a heavy cold have put a dampener on my sewing activities. I finally sat down and got on with it to try to get out of my sewing funk that I'd gotten into.

After buying the remaining length of orange wool from a since closed down online fabric shop, I've wanted to make a Fox coat for a year now. As with many projects, it's been pushed to the back burner repeatedly. But I gave myself a deadline of one day to make and photograph the coat.

I think I may have given myself too strict a deadline, but I got on with it. I printed and stuck the pattern together, then cut the fabric, then got on with sewing the coat together. By just before dinnertime, I'd completed the coat entirely. Then I had to stop to cook dinner for the kids. By the end of dinner, the rainy day had made the evening draw in really quickly and I'd totally lost all natural light for photographs. So I didn't quite complete my self imposed deadline. Thankfully it wasn't actively raining the following morning and little boy was more than happy to model the coat so long as he could play with his remote controlled car!

The sewing itself was pretty easy. The coat has a boxy design, purposely cut a little large to last a couple of winters. The ears gave me the most bother as the wool, the fleece and the black velour actually ended up being quite thick to sew through. I followed the instructions, mostly, but changed up the way I sewed the sleeve hems together, and also didn't leave a hole in the bottom hem to topstitch. I used the bagging out method to attach the lining and the outer together.

With the lining and outer right sides together, I sewed as per instructions, around all the edges of the coat (including the full bottom hem). But before turning out, I sewed each sleeve hem together too. This leaves you with what looks like a complete jumble that will never turn out, but it works! I'd left a hole in one side seam of my lining to turn the coat out. This meant I didn't have to topstitch the turning hole shut in the bottom hem, instead I hand stitched the lining closed. Maybe this might seem like extra effort, but I prefer it as no matter how precise I am, the hole in the hem edge is always a little uneven to me.

My son coloured in a picture of a wild things coat. He chose the fox, and added his own details. He specifically wanted red pockets, black tipped ears, and the letters FOX on the three buttons.

So I made his picture come to life. I had some thick red cotton that I used for the patch pockets, and self-cover buttons which I also covered in the red cotton. I then found some glittery green felt I had in the kids craft box, and freehand cut out some little letters. This meant he could have his FOX buttons, just like his picture. He was also very specific on not having a tail. I wonder whether he's getting a little old for a full dress up coat?!

I did omit the claws at the end of the sleeves. I knew that the sleeves would need turning up, and thus the claws would disappear. I also thought they'd get soggy and muddy in all his adventuring. I quite like the green lining fabric peeking out of the turned up cuffs!

This coat pattern is part of the Wild Things range by Twig and Tale. My girl has requested I make her a bunny coat next, which I'd love to do, but she already has far too many winter coats this year.... hmm... decisions, decisions!

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